“To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream, not only plan, but also believe.” Anatole France :- (6 April 1844 – 12 October 1924) French poet, journalist, and novelist.

The New Year is upon us, which means parties, social events and gatherings; a joyous time indeed! However the New Year brings with it a time for reflection of the year that has been, and a time for looking ahead. Are there changes you want to make, habits you want to lose, goals you want to achieve? How often do you make New Year resolutions only to have them ending up in next year's list?

It's a Brain Game

Even with the best of intentions, only a tiny percentage of us will actually accomplish those resolutions. Why do so many people fail at goal-setting, and what are the secrets behind those who succeed? Yes, hard work and discipline are essential ingredients to achieving goals, but more interestingly, recent research has shown that how our brain processes successes and failures can be a major contributing factor. What makes the brain tick? Here are some tips on how to get your brain on board with those resolutions of yours.

1. Keep it simple and achievable

“Success begets success.”Resolutions can often be ambitious and daring i.e. “lose 2 dress sizes”, “start own business” etc. Unfortunately, creating ambitious goals can cause more harm than good. Each time we fail, the brain is drained of dopamine. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that helps to control the brain's reward and pleasure centers. It allows us to focus in on rewards as well as take the actions necessary to move toward them. So when the brain is drained of dopamine, it makes concentrating difficult and even prevents the brain from learning from what went wrong!

On the other hand, when you achieve something, your brain releases seratonin and dopamine, the two neurotransmitters of happiness. When this happens, we are more concentrated and motivated to re-experience the activity that caused the chemical release in the first place. Therefore the more successes or wins we have, small or big, the more repeated release of dopamine we will have, allowing the brain to feel powerful enough to move mountains. So to get the ball rolling and the dopamine flowing, set simple and achievable goals.

2. Add emotional attachment

Adding an emotional connection to the goal is essential to making it a success. If you don’t really care about a goal, it is going to be very difficult to achieve them. Creating goals because you "should" want them or because it’s what other people want, are destined to flop. Make goals something you really want which fits in with your values.

For example, setting a goal of ‘losing 30 pounds’ because you should will most likely not be motivational enough for you to achieve it. However if you are able to give the goal an emotional tie by connecting losing weight with a longer more fulfilled life, so that you can play, interact and have more quality time with your children, the goal will become more attainable.

3. Make a plan and be specific

“When it is obvious that the goals cannot be reached, don't adjust the goals, adjust the action steps.” - Confucius

Having an action plan with steps on how you are going to reach it, will allow you to be more successful. Creating small achievable steps will cause that dopamine to flow. So figure out exactly what you want to do, how you are going to do it and even more importantly, recognise those successes on the way.

For example, instead of “Get fit,” try timetabling your exercise for the next few months. Remember to plan them so that they fit realistically into your timetable. “Get Fit” may work better as “in January do two gym sessions a week: Tuesday and Friday at 6pm."

4. Writing down goals and visualize regularlyWriting and visualizing goals are easy and effective tools to firmly implant them into the subconscious, bringing you closer to your goals. Visualisation creates a picture for the subconscious mind and helps to create an emotional bond with them. The more detailed the better. In order to ingrain them into your subconscious, we suggest writing down your goals or creating a vision board and putting them in a place where you'll view them frequently, such as on the fridge or on your desk or set it as your computer screen saver.

With Kinesiology, we are able to access the subconscious so that we can gain a greater understanding on belief or action patterns that may be preventing you from moving forward and achieving these goals. By releasing these blocks or stressors from your past/present and by gaining more awareness, you will begin to feel more connected to yourself and your heart, allowing enormous change!

Let Kinesiology help you become the “Ultimate you” for the year of 2015!